Lukas Rass-Masson

Professor of Law
University of Toulouse / Université Toulouse Capitole
Toulouse School of Law - Research | Institut de droit privé

My work sits at the meeting point of private international law, European law, and the emerging fields, cyberspace and space among them, where classical legal categories have to be rethought. I co-direct the Master in Private and Public International Law of Toulouse (currently MADIC) and the 2026 Hague Academy Centre for Studies and Research on cyberspace and international law. Alongside various community commitments, I preside over the Maison de l'Europe Toulouse Occitanie and serve as vice-president of the European Law Faculties Association (ELFA).

Interests

Private international law EU law Law of the global commons Rule of law AI and law

Profiles

ORCID HAL Publications Research statement Contact

Research focus

My work runs along three connected axes: the methodology of private international law, the law of the global commons and global spaces (cyberspace and outer space among them), and law and new technologies, from digital law to artificial intelligence. They share one question: how a discipline built around localisation can order situations, and whole spaces, that have no clear one. That question draws my current work toward a general theory of the common spaces of private international law, and toward the humanist foundations a discipline needs to serve a genuinely plural global legal order. A fuller account is on the research page.

Roles

Current

• Co-director, Master MADIC (droit international appliqué et comparé), Université Toulouse Capitole, with Prof. Pierre Egéa (since 2020)
• Co-director, 2026 Hague Academy of International Law Centre for Studies and Research, "Cyberspace and International Law", with Prof. Mohamed S. Helal (The Ohio State University)
• President, Maison de l'Europe Toulouse Occitanie
• Vice-President, European Law Faculties Association (ELFA)
• Vice-President, German group of the Association of Former Auditors of the Hague Academy of International Law (AAA)
• Co-director, "Institutions de la Justice" section, Société de législation comparée
• Board member, Deutsch-Französische Juristenvereinigung
• Co-chair, French Hub of the European Law Institute (ELI)
• Independent expert for EU institutions (European Commission, European Parliament)

Previously

• Vice-President, Resources and Institutional Transformation, Université de Toulouse (2023–2024)
• Vice-President, Governance, Université Toulouse Capitole (2020–2023)
• Director, European School of Law Toulouse (2018–2023)
• Head of the agrégation preparation programme, Faculty of Law, Université Toulouse Capitole (2018–2022)
• Maître de conférences (Associate Professor, tenured), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (2016–2017)
• Enseignant-chercheur (Lecturer and Researcher), Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas (2007–2016), where I completed my PhD in law (Les fondements du droit international privé européen de la famille / The Foundations of European Private International Family Law, 2015)
• Legal Officer, Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), The Hague (2013–2014)
• Expert evaluator, HCERES, France's national agency for the evaluation of higher education and research